Pubdate: Sat,  6 Jul 2002
Source: Daily Californian, The (CA Edu)
Copyright: 2002 The Daily Californian
Contact:  http://www.dailycal.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/597
Author: Salar Jahedi

A DRUG-FREE BERKELEY

Drugs have always been a problem on college campuses. Smoking marijuana is 
like a rite of passage you undertake when arriving at college.

You know, hitting the blunt, smoking the herb or passing the weed. I have 
seen people rolling the fatty J., blazing the sticky-icky or just getting 
burned. Never mind the people splitting the purple haze, getting their 
nicky's worth or sacking their kryptonite.

There is a longstanding debate on whether this is beneficial. Well, let's 
face it-drugs are dangerous. Why else would the nice police officer guy 
throw all the druggies into prison?

With Eminem topping the music charts, the nation is becoming more aware of 
this fact. "See children, drugs are bad, and if you don't believe me, ask 
your dad," the visionary rapper chants in a song called "The Kids" that 
aims to teach children about the harmful effects of some drugs.

But seeing as how the divorce rate is so high, perhaps asking your parents 
is no longer convenient. President Bush decided to send an even stronger 
message out to the younger generation. Last year, he signed a bill 
enforcing the Drug-Free Provision of the Higher Education Act, saying that 
those who are caught smoking up will be denied federal aid for school.

Because of this, 25,000 college students were denied financial aid last 
year. With even stricter enforcement this year, the number is expected to 
double.

I can see where some of you Berkeley-ites could get upset. This law is 
unfair-it targets low-income families and so on. Kids whose parents are 
rich enough to finance their child's education need not worry about this 
law because it targets minorities. While only 13 percent of minorities are 
known to smoke weed, 67 percent of the drug arrests are minorities. This 
law targets pot smokers.

With all this in mind, how is it that rapists and murderers still get 
financial aid?

Well, just because a law targets only a specific group of people doesn't 
make it a bad law.

If the government was able to make everybody in the country put down the 
reefer, I'm sure they would. However, it has limited resources.

See, the government uses tax dollars to provide services for society. One 
of these services is to help educate those who cannot afford to educate 
themselves. Another service is to fight the war against drugs. If the 
government were to tackle these problems individually, it would need more 
resources (pronounced "charge higher taxes").

By bundling its responsibilities, the government can attempt to kill two 
birds with one stone. It can provide education to the poor while 
simultaneously stopping kids from using drugs.

Let's remember that the tax dollars that finance government expenditures 
come from the people. Most of these people would not appreciate wasting 
their hard-earned money to fund some kid's drug habit. If the government 
wants to provide for its people, it should also listen to how those people 
would like their money spent.

The government is by no means obligated to support the habits of 
law-breaking individuals. In fact, an individual who knows that his 
financial aid will be cut off if he is caught smoking and decides to smoke 
anyway is not the most studious of students. Either that, or he is ready to 
provide for his own education.

These people signal to the government that they put a low priority on 
education and a higher priority on breaking the law. If the people affected 
by the law do not change their behavior, then they deserve whatever 
punishment was promised.

The Drug-Free Provision also provides one last benefit I have failed to 
mention. College has become almost a given after high school. With many 
students not even considering forgoing college, there will soon be a lack 
of low-paid, high labor workers.

This could spell trouble for our economy. Who will do the more menial jobs 
in society? Might as well be the druggies.

Have low aspirations? Light a blunt and pass it on to Salar at  ---
MAP posted-by: Beth